creative little daisy

Let me introduce you

to Bayleigh Caroline

born Sunday at 8:41 pm weighing 7 pounds 11 ounces

I'm in love!

I knew I could count on you!

And you delivered. Reading your questions over the past few days has given me lots to ponder. Some have been easy to answer and some have required me to look a little deeper, think a little more and provided me with some welcome distraction this weekend. (I'll break up my answers in a couple of posts.)

The first question was from Molly:

When do you get up in the morning? Are you a morning person? night owl?

I'm definitely a morning person. My days of burning the midnight oil are long gone. When the light of day starts to fade so do I.

What crafts do you see yourself still doing when you're old and gray?

I've never thought of this one. I hope I'll still be doing crafts that are relevant to the times. I don't want to torture my grandchildren with handmade gifts from Nana that they dread getting.

Stephanie asked:

well..first of all, what is the name and brand of the wonderful paint color in the background of this photo! beautiful! we just painted some blue around the house and we love it...it looks very similar.

Stephanie, the paint is a Martha Stewart color called Vintage Kitchen from her Sherwin Williams line. I don't think they have her paint anymore but there is a color in her line at Lowes called Vintage Map that looks identical to me. 

second...i had no idea that you were so close..we are in VA!

Yep, we're down here in NC, not too far from Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. Howdy neighbor!

From Beth:

How did you and Mitch meet?

Well, we actually knew of each other before we technically "met". He is a little more than four years older than me- not a very big difference when you're 39 and 43, but when you're 14 and 18 it's a world of difference. He was dating a girl I went to church with. She was his age and lived right across the street from my best friend, April. We were always around, on our bikes, and to him we were just little girls. I'm sure he never gave me a second thought, but I thought he was really cute.  Fast forward three years, I'm 17 and he's 22, our paths cross by way of mutual friends one spring night and we've been together since.

Susan and a few others wonder how I stay so thin.

The only thing I want to know is how you stay so thin. Clothes look gorgeous on you. And I knew you didn't look old enough to be an almost grandma. I was 45 when I became one, and I thought that was young.

How do I stay so thin? I just do, despite my efforts not to.  90 pounds on a 5' 4" frame, is too thin, and clothes really don't look so gorgeous on me. There's not a curve to be found on me. My doctor attributes it to a high metabolism related to my lung disease. I burn lots of calories doing everyday things, sweeping the floor is a workout.

Yes, 39 is a young Nana. I was 18 (nearly 19) when I had Alyssa and she's 20. 

Cheryl had a few questions:

I have a few questions for ya tee hee.....

What inspires you to craft/sew?

What doesn't? I have way more inspiration than I have time or energy to actually do. I definitely have crafting ADD. I want to try this, I must do that... Lately, Flickr provides a wealth of inspiration. Now if it could also provide some motivation to go with all that inspiration.

Are most of the things you share your creations (dreamed up from you)? or do you use a pattern?

I'd say it's a mix of both. If I post about something that's been made from a pattern, I'll always reference the pattern.

Your creations are wonderfully crafted in great color combos. Do what do you attribute having such great color coordination in your projects?

I'm asked this one a lot. I can't say I have any particular color coordination methods, I just trust my eyes. I don't have any rules, I just go with what is pleasing to my eye.

Mallory, you asked a couple of good ones.

Thanks for allowing us to ask you questions and I have two! :-) 1. How did you get so skilled at sewing; and 2. How do you stay in your sewing room long enough to make these beautiful creations...and take such good care of a family too? I do not accomplish as much as you do! :-)

My sewing skills have improved purely by sewing- just like the old saying, practice makes perfect. I'm a long, long way from perfect, but I do a lot of practicing. The second part of your question really gave me lots to think about when I read it, because I guess if I were completely honest, I don't take such good care of my family. I hate to cook and we eat take-out way to often,  Casey has at least 10 loads of laundry scattered about his room, (should I be doing an 18-year-old's laundry?) and I only grocery shop when we are in danger of starving if I don't. I could write a whole post about this, but to keep it short here, Mallory, I am not good at juggling my time between sewing and the other stuff. It's all about balance, and I've yet to achieve it.

Hey there Anna, you asked some fun questions.

What's your favorite snack food?

I love me some chips and salsa, a Bavarian creme filled donut can't be beat, then there's cheese. I do love cheese, but I can't say it aloud because there are four other creatures around here who love it just as much or more and if you say the word, you better be prepared to deliver.

When you can sneak a few free moments, what's your favorite way to relax?

Me and the boys (Mitch, Toby and Lucky) love to hang out together and watch TV in the evening. Mitch likes to have ice-cream and the boys sit patiently waiting because they always get the last 2 bites. (They actually eat ice cream from a spoon)

And....what's the one thing you can hardly wait to tell that precious new baby girl????

I plan to tell her how much I love her and how much fun we are going to have together. I had the best granny there ever was, so I have some big shoes to fill and I can't wait to get started.

Lynn in NC had a couple:

Two questions:
1)why the name creative little daisy? (BTW, daisies are my favorite)

When I decided to start my blog, I had no idea what to call it. I gave Alyssa, Mitch and my friend Kelli a list of five or six questions requiring one word answers. Questions like, when you think of me, what food comes to mind, what flower, what movie... name one word that describes me... I took their answers and used them in several different combinations coming up with a few potential names. Creative Little Daisy was the winning combination, coming in close second was Fried Green Ravioli. Do you think I made the right choice?

2)where else have you lived other than NC?

Nowhere. I've only had four different addresses and two of them were next door to one another.   

OK, I'm going to stop there since this is getting really long. I'll answer the rest in another post.
Why the photo above?  I just wanted to share my cool new shirt. $5.95 at Ross.

What do you really want to know?

I've been tagged a couple of times lately to name 7 weird things or 7 random facts about myself. Sounds easy, right? Not so much.  Especially given the fact I've already listed 7 things at least a couple of times, that makes 14, plus I even listed 100 things once (way back when) and my about me page has 25 things. By my calculation that must be about 700 things you never even cared to know in the first place. Instead of me trying to narrow down my many quirks to seven, how about I do what Molly did.  You ask me what you want to know- that's assuming you want to know anything, and if you don't, that's ok too. I understand, you're busy and have other things to do. Really, it's fine. Don't give it a second thought. It's just that I was fascinated by the interesting and thought provoking questions that were asked of Molly, so I thought going that route would surely be more interesting than telling you that once when I was a child, six-ish, I put poison ivy down my shirt because I thought it would be fun to have poison ivy. It wasn't fun. And you really didn't want to know that, did you? What is it that you would like to know about this darn near 40-year-old wife and mom, soon-to-be-nana, sewing hermit and zoo keeper living in eastern North Carolina? Ask away! 

How I've been keeping myself busy

While we wait...

Making blankets,

and itty-bitty dresses

with matching shoes.

Lots of people have asked where to find the patterns for the shoes and dress. They are linked in the post, just click the word shoes (above) for the shoe pattern, and itty-bitty dresses for the dress pattern. Whenever a word is a different color in my posts, it means it is a link to another page- usually with more information about what I am discussing in the post.

Oh yea, one more thing- Rae has started an itsy-bitsy baby dress flickr group, if you use her pattern to make the dress, be sure to join the group and share a photo. 

Blowing in the breeze...

Sheets won on ebay- they came out of the box with that distinctive otherpeoplesoldstuff smell. You know what I'm talking about, thrift store smell. Into the washer with some hot water, a little white vinegar added to the detergent, then out to the clothesline.

Like magic, they smell like sunshine and warm breezes.

Hi, how was your day?

Mine was pretty good. Did a little thrifting, had Mexican food, went with Alyssa to the ob/gyn- not in that particular order. Alyssa's been having contractions, mild ones, but she wanted to get checked out.  It looks like Miss Bayleigh may have begun packing her bags and getting ready for life on the outside. No real labor, but the wheels have started turning. I know and have warned Alyssa, this could go on for days, maybe weeks, but I have a feeling, just like her mama*, this little one may arrive a little early. 
After the doctor visit, we hit a couple of thrift stores, no exciting finds unfortunately. I wanted a couple more sheets to make lounge pants. Thanks, by the way, for your nice words about those, the idea wasn't original. I knew I'd seen a picture on flickr or read a blog post where someone used a sheet to make lounge pants. It was one of those things I thought was a great idea when I saw it, but didn't have time to make any for myself- the seed was planted. I had a couple of thrifted sheets on the shelf waiting to be used. Why can't you find sheets like that new- smooth and soft, but at the same time crisp? They don't get all wrinkly and they don't pill. I miss sleeping under sheets like that. Ahhhh..... Where was I? Oh, the seed was planted, but I didn't remember by who. Then a few of you commented on what a great idea that was, so I thought it was important to point out, that yes it was a super idea, but not mine. All it took was a quick google search to find the original pants, and guess what, she was inspired by someone else. Good ideas  spread like wildfire through the blogoshere, don't they? Another great, but not original to me idea led me to make this pretty little bit of wall art for Bayleigh's room.

I was inspired by Erin who was inspired by Ali.  Alyssa punched the butterflies out of cards and gift tags from baby gifts she's received and I mounted them just the way Ali described, with foam dots. Easy art and I think it's pretty cute too. Thanks Erin, Ali, Leslie and Amanda for sharing and inspiring.

*Alyssa was six weeks early.

Loungey

I made some lounge pants from a sheet. A super soft sheet. Now I think I should go find some more sheets, or else I'll be wearing these everyday. I'm not completely happy with the fit. What is up patterns and high waisted pants? I do not wear my pants pulled up like Steve Urkel, but the major pattern companies seem to think I should. I made these from New Look 6060 specifically because the pattern jacket stated that they are worn 1 1/2 inch below the waist- they didn't say where the crotch would fall if they were worn 1 1/2 inch below the waist though. I ended up cutting about an inch off the top and they still ride higher than I wanted. Any suggestions on the best way to alter a pattern to lower the rise?

flickr makes me happy

so much beauty, so little time
Originally uploaded by creativelittledaisy

I sometimes lose myself in all the beauty on this wonderful site. I don't select a photo as a favorite with any theme in mind, yet they always seem to develop. This mosaic of favorites looks to me like a quilt, each square different, but somehow similar. None chosen for their color or subject matter- only because they were pleasing to my eye. It seems lately I'm pleased with babies, quilts, aqua with red and puppies. No surprises there.

Tweet, tweet

Because I love birds and aqua and red and linen....

and because you know she'll be spending lots of time at Nana's house...

I had to make a pretty place for her to dream her sweet little dreams that goes with my decor.

I think it looks right at home here. The mobile that came with the bassinet had little white bears. They were easily replaced with tweet little birds, made from the Bird Ornament pattern in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. The fabulous bird fabric is by Kristen Doran Design, it's called Mollybirds.  I've had it for quite a while but could never think of a good enough reason to cut it, until now.

OK Miss Bayleigh Caroline,  Nana's ready when you are.